Tommy Ma Tin-yiu acted in the film Teenage Trap (1984), produced by his brother Ma Tak, but went into the real estate business afterwards, not returning to film until 1993, when he produced the action thriller Combat at Heaven Gate (1993), starring Sibelle Hu. The same year, he founded Cheung Sing Movie, producing the Category III thriller The Complicated Raping Case (1993), directed by Houwood Hou. He later produced Why Wild Girls (1994), directed by Andy Chin; Gambling Baron (1994), directed by Yeung Kuen; and The Armed Policewoman (1995), directed by Nilson Cheung.

In 1996, Ma produced and directed two films, The Six Devil Women and Rebekah, both based on real-life events. With less than satisfactory grosses for both films, Ma decided to close the operation of Cheung Sing. He later directed Big Spender (1999), which was based on the sensational real-life kidnapping of a wealthy businessman. However, he was beaten at the box office by another film based on the same incident, Operation Billionaires (1998), which opened three months earlier.

In 2000, after producing the Category III erotica Princess Princess, Ma was diagnosed with cancer. When treatment proved unsuccessful, Ma jumped to his death in Shenzhen in November, 2003.